


True Lies

by Ninestar



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Explicit Language, F/F, Mildly Dubious Consent, Movie AU, True Lies AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-15 23:02:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 22,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11816007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninestar/pseuds/Ninestar
Summary: Emma Swan-Mills lives a normal boring life with her wife Regina and their son Henry. Unbeknownst to her family she's actually a badass super spy. Emma struggles with balancing her work life and her home life until one day the two worlds collide.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlabamaMiles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlabamaMiles/gifts).



> Thank you so much to my amazing beta Iris. Thank you to AnotherShipper for the amazing artwork that can be found [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11936970)! Special shout out to Maddi for being my test reader. Thank you so much to the SQSN mods for putting this whole thing together, you are amazing!
> 
> This story is dedicated to Mal. This idea would have never seen the light of day if it weren't for you. I hope it doesn't disappoint.
> 
> Trigger Warnings: This story has a lot of swearing, a brief moment of dub con, violence that is not very graphic (I put it in the warnings just in case), and also Hook is in this but I hate him so I am not very nice to him.

Emma Swan pushes the block of ice she just cut through aside and pokes her head up from the freezing water. She glances around for a moment before she removes her scuba mask and completely emerges from the icy lake. Stealthily she pulls her gear from the water and runs to the nearby boat house. She sees her destination up ahead from the corner of the boathouse and figures that this is a good place to check in with her team.

“The Swan has landed.” She quips into her radio.

“Roger that Agent Swan. You’re right on time for the boathouse.” Mulan Fa replies back as she glances down at her watch. It won’t be long before the real mission starts, and Mulan knows she needs to get everything set in place. That everything is the third agent on the mission.

“Merlin, get your ass back in the truck!” She hollers as she covers the mic on her headset with her hand so that she doesn't blow Agent Swan’s ear drums.

Merlin Ambrose stands a few feet from the truck taking pictures of the sprawling castle in front of them, he thinks about how he’s going to filter and post it later on his private Instagram, he really does have the best job for a wannabe photographer. When Merlin hears his name being called from the van, he shoves his phone back into his pocket and hops in the van, forgetting to close the van door in the process.

Mulan side-eyes him before leaning over to close the door for him. She glares at him again and then turns her attention back to checking out their target, looking for any potential threats that might be coming towards Emma’s location.

Emma removes her wetsuit to reveal the fitted formal tuxedo that she is wearing underneath, perfectly dry thanks to the now removed rubber layer, the suit also includes shoulder straps that contain her firearms that are concealed by her suit jacket. She places her ear piece into her ear and verbally checks her status with Mulan. After ensuring their coms work she places a small radio controlled explosive on the side of the boathouse. Before moving from her spot she puts on some perfume, and smiles to herself, she’s gonna knock ‘em dead she thinks. Now properly attired she walks towards the house avoiding any guards thanks to the eagle eyes of her team back in the van.

After entering the service entrance Emma makes her way through to the kitchen where she is ignored by the staff. They are far too busy running around preparing dishes that make Emma's mouth water just a little to notice her, right up until she is almost in the dining room that is. Emma stops and turns after she hears a man's voice directed at her, his tone and body language accusing.

“I don't know who you think you’re cooking for, but this needs more cinnamon.” She retorts to the man in French and as if she were his boss, maybe she was, not like he’d never know. Brushing off the man’s confused face as she continues into the main room of the house. Emma observes several high profile international guests scattered around the room, she shows off her immense linguistic skills by chatting a little with each one as she passes by them.

In the centre of the main room is her target, Albert Spencer. Spencer stands talking with a drink in one hand to an attractive blonde female, far too skanky for Emma’s taste, but attractive nonetheless. The blonde looks up and meets Emma’s eyes, a hint of curiosity crosses between them and then the moment is gone because Emma's legs keep her striding up the stairs to her goal.

She enters Spencer’s office and lets her team know of her progress. She hooks the laptop that she finds on the desk up to some tech drive thingy that Merlin gave her, she doesn’t really understand it, she just knows she has to plant it, wait for him to download some files, and then get the hell out of dodge.

As Emma is making her way out of the office and back down to the main hall one of the security guards notices her, she plays it off with the old trying to find the toilet trick, hoping he takes the bait. She doesn’t try to stick around and find out if he buys it, but instead she continues moving, always moving, that’s what goes through her mind. Move. Don’t get caught.

She’s just catching her breath when she notices several guards walking towards her and has to do the thing from spy class 101 and pretend to look at the nearest art object. It works and the guards walk past her, she chuckles internally. Good help really is hard to find.

“Magnificent isn’t it?” comes a woman’s voice from beside Emma. She looks up and sees the blonde she noticed earlier staring at her.

“It’s pretty breathtaking,” Emma states as she notices the woman’s lips turn up in a small smile. Flirting, Emma can work with this. “Name’s Emma Nolan, pleasure to meet you.”

“Maleficent Skinner. I thought this party would be a bunch of boring old men, I’m glad to see that isn’t the case” she states as she continues to look at Emma like she’s a piece of meat.

What the blonde doesn't know is that as soon as the name is out of her mouth Mulan enters it in the database and gives Emma a rundown on her.

“Maleficent Skinner, 35, single, Art dealer. Specialises in rare and unusual items.” Mulan rattles off as soon as it pops up on the screen.

Emma looks back at the art and notices it’s a painting from one of the Dutch painters, she vaguely remembers it because her art professor in college was smoking hot and she paid attention to every single word that came from her mouth.

“If I’m not mistaken this is a de Kooning?” Emma inquires, knowing Maleficent will take the bait.

“You have a good eye.” She purrs as she looks Emma up and down.

Once again the earpiece sparks to life telling Emma she needs to move, the guards have found her entry point and “are seriously losing their shit” as Mulan so eloquently states. Emma sees several of the guards heading in her direction, so she asks the first thing that comes to her mind.

“Dance with me?” Emma holds out her hand and smiles, showing off the dimple that she knows always works.

Maleficent takes her hand and the two move to the dance floor. Emma is not a dancer by any stretch of the imagination, but she definitely knows how to move a woman’s body. Of course Maleficent seems to be more than proficient at dancing and working her own body in tandem with how Emma tries to move it. The two end up dancing the sexiest dance any of the guests at this party will probably have ever seen in their lives. The two women’s bodies contort and slide along each other almost as if they were old lovers. When Emma dips Maleficent she snaps back up and their faces are only inches apart. They part as the music dies and Maleficent can’t help but hold onto Emma’s bicep.

“You are a fantastic dancer. I wonder what other talents you might show me tonight.” The obviousness of the flirting almost makes Emma roll her eyes, but luckily her earpiece saves her. They have the files and it’s time to get the fuck out.

“I wish I had the time to show you, sadly I have to catch a plane,” Emma replies with just as much sweetness as she can muster.

Maleficent reaches into her bra and pulls out a card and hands it to Emma. She gives Emma yet another once over and says, “Shame. If you ever want to talk art, or just make some, give me a call.”

Emma takes the card and puts it in her pocket. She tries not to think of how it’s warm and maybe a little moist from boob sweat, but rather of how to get the fuck out of this place. She starts towards the front of the house and makes it as far as the drive way before someone notices her. Remember that explosive she planted at the boathouse? She feels that it’s a pretty good time to use it and smiles when the explosion draws everyone's attention.

Her smile only lasts a few seconds because a gun battle erupts, and she's running through snow getting her nice suit all dirty. To Emma, there’s nothing worse than a ruined tux, and that fuels the rage that she needs to channel to shoot her way off the property and meet up with Mulan and Merlin, who almost end up running her over because the ice has made the road so slick.

They manage to make their flight and they land back in DC a few hours later. Mulan gives Emma a ride home and hands her back her life. Her passport, her fake plane tickets, the fake hotel bill, the works. She then hands Emma a plastic bag and Emma looks confused.

“It’s a shirt, for Henry. Bring your kid a souvenir from a place you visited, that whole thing.” Mulan explains

Emma’s eyes light up, she’d never even thought of that, Mulan is a genius. Emma grabs all of her luggage and starts making her way from the car when she hears Mulan call her name.

“Swan, forget something?” Mulan says whilst holding Emma’s wedding ring in between her fingers and gives her a look.

“Shit. Thanks! Such a good team!” Emma grabs the ring and puts it on as she sneaks into her own house.

She walks up the stairs and opens a door a crack just enough to see her son, Henry, asleep in his bed, snoring gently. She smiles at him and closes the door.

She creeps into her room careful not to wake her wife who’s sprawled out taking up the whole bed. She showers briefly to get that airplane smell off, throws on a comfy tank top and a pair of underwear, and then slips into her bed. She tries to take some of the covers from the woman who’s hogging them without waking her, but is unsuccessful. Regina stirs and asks her if she had a good trip and then rolls over to cuddle Emma. Emma loves being home.


	2. Chapter 2

Emma is so proud of the shirt when she thrusts it in Henry’s face that he can’t help but smile a little. 

“Uh, wow, um. Thanks, ma.” Henry replies and looks back up at his mother silently willing her to leave his room.

Emma gets the hint and drops a kiss on his forehead and reminds him not to be late. Both earn a look of embarrassment from the teenager. 

Henry waits until his mother leaves the room before looking at Tinkerbelle, Tink for short, his dog that he convinced his mothers to let him have a few years ago, and then looks back at the shirt before throwing it in his closet.

“What am I supposed to do with that? Honestly.” He remarks to Tink before rushing to get ready for school.

Down the hall, Regina Swan-Mills stands in the middle of the bedroom trying to figure out her outfit for the day. Emma walks into the room and immediately makes a beeline for the bathroom sink. She’s running late.

“Hun, is there coffee yet? I’m so late.” Emma calls out to her wife. 

Regina puts on her skirt as she replies, “There should still be some in the pot.” 

She walks into the bathroom and kisses Emma on the cheek.

“How was the convention?” She asks as she begins to brush her teeth.

Emma looks at Regina’s reflection in the mirror as she rambles off about having to deal with corporate sales, and the latest technology in the exciting world of dentistry. Regina tunes out after a moment because honestly how many advances can there really be in dentistry. She loves her wife but she can never figure out how her wife thinks that being a dentist is an exciting job.

Neither one of them hears as the front door opens and Mulan enters the house. Mulan looks around for a second before hanging her blazer on the back of a chair and then grabbing a pen and placing it on the dining room table. She walks into the kitchen and helps herself to some of the coffee that’s still in the decanter. She knows Regina made this pot because she doesn't immediately need to dump out the cup in the sink.

Emma and Regina have finally almost wrapped up their morning routine before Regina mentions that a plumber had swung by the house to look at a pipe in the back yard.

“Turns out it’s going to cost a lot since they need to drill under a slab or something.” 

Emma is nodding and sure-ing along to the conversation, not because she doesn’t care, it’s more of the fact that it’s plumbing, and she’s thinking about the briefing at work she needs to give. She ensures her tie is straight before asking Regina how she handled the plumber.

Knowing Emma isn’t actually listening she states, “I slept with him and he’s said he’ll do it for free.”

Knowing she’s been caught half listening Emma half smiles at the joke, kisses Regina’s cheek and deadpans, “Guess that works.”

Emma walks into the kitchen to see her partner, holding out a cup of coffee. Emma wishes her family could know that Mulan isn’t just a fellow dentist that she carpools with, but rather a true friend.

“You’re my favourite. Have I told you that?” Emma jokes.

Mulan looks at her watch, then shows the face to Emma. It’s a live video feed of the blazer she threw on the back of the chair. She explains to Emma the new technology, how the source doesn't need a battery pack, and you can place the camera on any surface and it’ll stick. All very impressive things and Emma just nods because how cool are all these spy toys that she gets to play with. Her mind starts thinking about all the places she could literally be a fly on the wall at right now, but she’s pulled from the thoughts by an image on the app.

She sees her son, her 13-year-old son, the light of her life, walk into the dining room and remove money from Mulan’s wallet and then start towards the front door. Emma is dumbfounded but goes after him.

“Henry! Henry come back!” Emma shouts but it’s too late. Henry has hopped into the back of his slightly older friend Hansel’s car.

“I’m late gotta go! Bye Ma!” Henry yells innocently out the window as the car pulls away.

At least he’s wearing his seatbelt she thinks. And then she thinks “Ow shit fuck. Son of a bitch.” She was holding a coffee. Now that coffee has sloshed around and is burning her hand. 

\--------------------------

Mulan and Emma are making their way to the office, Emma continues to apologise for her son’s behaviour and Mulan continues to tell Emma it isn't her fault.

“He’s a teenager Emma. Just think of all the things you were doing at that age.”

Emma mentally runs through her teen years for about one second before exclaiming, “Oh god no. Nope. Not him. He’s a good kid. Nope. Nope. Nope.”

Mulan gives her an apologetic look, “I just hope he’s using the money he stole from me for something useful, like condoms. I honestly thought that one of Ruby’s friends was taking it.”

Ruby is Mulan’s ex. They still live together because neither could afford to break the lease and they always seem to work better as friends. Ruby has an eccentric taste in friends and that leads to all sorts of people hanging out at their shared apartment. Mulan has never minded, because she always ends up having the best conversations with the strangers.

“My kid isn’t an idiot, of course he’s going to use protection, but he won’t need that for another ten years, because he’s thirteen Mulan! Who would he even be banging, he only ever hangs around with Hansel.” Emma tries and fails not to sound terribly defensive. 

Mulan schools her face. She cannot believe Emma hasn’t figured this out yet. A part of her wishes she could be there when Emma finally figures out that her son is gayer than she is, but then again knowing Emma she’ll only ever figure it out when she actually walks in on her son and his boyfriend, and no way Mulan wants to be there for that. She just smiles and says nothing.

As they enter the office the scenes around them begin to change. From the outside the building is labelled as a Gentler Dental, after passing a few rooms, scanning their fingers, eyeballs, and a vocal test they head to a much more government agency looking building that’s hidden behind some walls in the exam area.

They meet up with Merlin and sit down to brief their boss, Belle French, about the previous day’s events. She’s a fairly calm woman, brilliant and understanding, but she also has a way about her that makes Emma feel like she, and her team, have personally let her down by failing to get any hard evidence of Albert Spencer’s criminal activity.

“I have to say Emma, not your best work,” Belle notes.

Emma sighs, but Merlin perks up. “Not all is lost.” He says as the three sets of eyes turn to him.  
“The files that we got last night, they showed the countless money transfers Spencer made, and some of them appear to be going into Swiss accounts.” Merlin states with a little pride in his voice.

Mulan interjects, “We also know that a week ago there was a hijack of a weapons cache larger than any in history.”

“But you don’t have anything to tie any of this together, correct?” Belle asks.

All three agents looked down and mumbled “No ma'am.”

“Well, I do believe in you and I know you can all find it.” She remarks cheerfully before gathering her things and leaving the agents.

After a few hours of reexamining more of the files from Spencer’s house, Mulan grabs Emma and pulls her over to Merlin’s desk. 

“Just wait.” She says with a smirk.

Merlin hands Emma a stack of papers. Turns out Spencer also sent money to Maleficent Skinner. The skank from the party. Mulan laughs as Emma rolls her eyes. Great. Time to be a piece of meat again.


	3. Chapter 3

“It’s not like she’s saving the world. She cleans and fixes teeth for a living!” Regina exclaims to her co-worker Katherine as she stirs her tea.

“Maybe it’s a good thing she really enjoys her job?” Katherine jokes.

“I know, but it’s just so boring. If for some reason I can’t sleep I ask her to tell me about her day and I’m out like a light in five minutes.” she sighs as she speaks.

Katherine notices the hint of sadness in her friend’s voice. “I thought you two were planning a getaway for the weekend. What happened?”

“She had to fill in for another dentist at some convention, she was very excited about it being some big opportunity, but I was honestly just hoping we could spend some time together.” Regina can’t help but sound a little bit sad. She really had hoped her wife would join her on a weekend away from work, it had been so long since it was just the two of them.

_Later that evening_ …..

Emma walks past the living room and notices Henry slamming the buttons on the PS4 controller. She walks into the room and grabs the spare controller from the table. He turns to look at his ma.

“You want to play? Do you even know what game this is?” He questions her in a voice that almost seems like a mixture of disappointment and surprise.

Emma smiles dimly at him. “Kid, I might not know what we’re playing, but I know I’m gonna wipe the floor with you.”

Henry regards her for a moment, seemingly deciding something before speaking. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

He restarts the game, it’s another Call of Duty, Emma doesn’t really pay attention to the number, they’re all the same anyway, and honestly, she should basically be in the game. If only Henry knew.

After losing miserably to Henry, and the team of other players that all sounded like school age kids from the south, Emma turns to her son.

“So, why’d you skip class today?” Henry’s eyes widen as he hears the question.

“They called you?!” He exclaims. “I had a headache and I went to the bathroom. Okay? It didn’t go away for a while so I didn’t go back to class.”

“You seem fine now? You get these headaches a lot?”

Henry takes a quick breath and seems aggravated by the question. “I get them sometimes. Why do you even care?”

Emma’s eyebrows shoot up, “What do you mean? Why would I not care? You’re my son, of course I care. I know some stuff is going on in your life.”

“What do you mean by that?” Henry looks worried.

“I mean I remember being a teenager, you to need impress your friends, impress the ladies, not disappoint your teachers. Whatever is going on you know you can talk to me. I’m here for you, always.” She tries.

Henry’s eyes flash with emotion but Emma isn’t looking directly at him, feeling too awkward in this conversation to notice.

“Whatever. I’m going to go to bed.” Henry stands up and storms into his room leaving Emma on the couch trying to figure out what just happened.

Emma turns the PlayStation off and puts the controller back on the table. She knows Henry means well, he’s a sweet kid, but he is a teenager after all. She gets up and walks into her bedroom to find her wife already asleep. She sighs and gets ready for bed herself.


	4. Chapter 4

Mulan picks Emma up from the house again, it’s time to be the lesbian in the window shop. She has a tailored suit that shows off all of her muscles, and she even did that little braid thing in her hair this morning. She knows she needs to play this right, she needs to find that connection, find out what’s being planned.

Mulan briefs her on the way, turns out Maleficent Skinner is far more of a villain than they initially thought. Not only does she have ties to Albert Spencer, but she had also been investigated for possible ties to the Queens of Darkness, a radical terrorist group that took pride in blowing up government facilities. There had also been rumours that she was part of a hacker network that was founded by the youngest person to ever grace the FBI’s most wanted list, Peter Pan.

Emma gets her story in order, she is a corporate art buyer for some financial company based in New York, and the company had decided they needed something epic for their new office in Dubai. 

“Ms Nolan! What an unexpected surprise! When my secretary told me I had an appointment with a Ms Nolan I didn’t even dream it would actually be you. Couldn’t keep away I see.” The woman’s voice lilts.

The woman makes Emma’s skin crawl and she can’t figure out why. Sure the woman is more obvious at her flirting attempts than a 15-year-old boy, but she has experienced over the top hyper-sexualised individuals before, this was something different, something she just couldn’t put her finger on.

She smiles sheepishly, “Well I heard you were the best, and I only want the best.” 

Maleficent’s eyes lit up. God this was easy. “Oh, honey. I’m better than the best. But what can I do for you?”

“One of my companies needs something amazing, eye-popping. Honestly, I'm looking for something to make the other bankers shit themselves.” Emma starts looking around the office at the art on the walls as she speaks.

“Well, you have impeccable timing. I have some new pieces that are coming in as we speak. Would you like to have a peek, maybe you’ll see something you like,” and yet more flirting. Emma actually wonders if the lady knows how to have a normal conversation at all.

“Lead the way.”

And lead she does. They walk into a wide open warehouse that is connected to the office. Inside are several workers prying open crates, and packaging up other crates. Emma is a little shocked at the volume of activity going on. 

Maleficent shows Emma several statues explaining where they came from and how she had obtained them, stopping along the way to yell at the workers who were taking a smoke break.

Emma’s lie detector was pinging so hard that she thought there must be a fire alarm going off somewhere. But at the end of their little tour when Maleficent turns and asks in that oh so innocent way if there was anything that caught Emma’s eye, a simple “maybe” is the appropriate answer.

What Emma doesn’t see is that one of the workers that was on break had been watching her interaction with Maleficent and had been quietly taking notes about their visit. 

Emma makes her exit from the warehouse and back to the hotel and to her team. They begin to discuss plans for a more in-depth surveillance on the art dealer, and how Emma’s cover started getting investigated the second she left Maleficent’s office.

Emma walks into the bathroom, she needs to rid herself of ‘the scent of ick’ and shower but is interrupted by her phone ringing, it’s a forward from the Dentist office front.

“Swan here.” She knows it’s probably her wife but with all that’s going on with their son, who knows.

Ursula, the receptionist, informs her that it is indeed a call from her wife. Emma smiles, she loves hearing her wife’s voice on a normal day, and on hard days like this it’s the best thing ever.

“Hey! I was just with a patient, what’s up?” 

“I know you’re busy, I’m sorry to call, I just wanted to make sure you’re going to be home tonight. I’m making your favourite, since it is your birthday.” Emma can almost hear the pleading in her voice. She hates that she causes that, hate hate hates it.

“You know I wouldn't miss your lasagna for anything. My stomach just made an ungodly noise just thinking about it.” she pats her stomach unconsciously.

“Okay, perfect. I know you’re busy, but I just wanted to check. I’ll let you get back to your patient.” Sometimes Regina feels like a bother when she calls Emma at work and she hates that feeling. 

“I’m glad you called Regina. It’s been a rough day and your voice is making it suck less. I can’t wait to see you tonight. I love you.” Emma starts thinking about food, and Regina, and Regina’s food, and maybe what’ll happen for dessert. 

“I love you too, see you tonight.” Regina says like she knows exactly where her wife’s train of thought has gone.

Emma quickly showers and finishes analysing all the information from her day. She has somewhere to be and she is not planning to be late.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: There is violence in this chapter. The violence is not very graphic, but it is there.

“Fuck it. Fuck it all.” Emma screams as she slams a man’s face into a toilet. All she wanted to do was go home, have a nice meal with her family, and show her wife some much needed loving, but no, she had to have a tail coming from the hotel. She tried to convince Mulan to lose the tail, but she was then reminded that they actually needed to catch some of these guys in the hope that they could get solid evidence from them. 

She ducked into the bathroom at a Starbucks and that’s when one of the guys decided to come at her, so here she is giving the man that she punched six times, and shot three times, a swirly. 

A new player bursts into the bathroom and immediately starts shooting at her, she manages to fling her body behind a wall, away from the bullets. She fires a few rounds back but the man keeps coming. All she can hear is the heavy breath of her assailant and people screaming on the other side of the door. 

She manages to punch the guy in the face as he rounds the corner but then he’s running out of the bathroom and shooting back in her direction. She has to follow him, she needs to bring this guy in. She radios Mulan who’s still back in the car to let her know the suspect is coming her way.

Mulan is barely out of the car when the man bursts through the door of the Starbucks and begins running down the crowded street. She notices Emma giving chase and she hops back in the car whilst calling for backup.

Emma runs after the guy, but can’t get a clean shot, there’s too many innocent people and she’s not going to kill anyone else today. The guy runs through the streets taking a few shots back at Emma every few seconds, more as a stalling tactic rather than an actual attempt to hit her. The suspect pulls a person off of a motorcycle stopped at a red light and hops on the bike.

Emma tries to keep running after him, but she’s on foot and he’s on a motorcycle, she’s going to lose him soon. She notices that ahead of her is a mounted park ranger. She yells as she approaches him.

“Federal agent in pursuit I need your horse!” She yanks the ranger off and hops on the horse. She offers an apology as she gallops away on the horse. She starts after the suspect on the borrowed horse and it’s very majestic. Her blonde hair having come partially loose is now flowing behind her, her shirt has torn open a little to show off her well-defined abs, and if this were any other time she’d seriously think about taking a selfie and sending it to Regina.

“Emma what’s your status” Mulan’s voice booms in the earpiece.

“Currently headed towards 14th. I need you there now, my horse is getting tired.”

“Did you just say horse?” Mulan starts off in the car to intercept Emma, she’s going to just assume Emma meant car, it has been a long day.

It’s only when the suspect on his motorcycle, and Emma on a horse, pull out onto the street in front of her when she realises, nope, Emma definitely said horse. 

Upon seeing his path blocked by the agents and Emma coming towards him the man drives into the nearest building, a hotel. Emma follows him and does her best to apologise to all of the people running for their lives. She follows the suspect until he manages to drive into an elevator. Thankfully the hotel is pretty big and has a second elevator that’s parallel. 

She squeezes the horse into the elevator and rides it all the way to the top, staring at her target through the glass walls, getting to know every single detail of his face.

When they get to the roof the guy guns the motorcycle and jumps onto the next building over, Emma is almost impressed. She kicks her foot in the horse’s side to encourage it to sprint full on but when the horse stops short and Emma almost flies off, she’s definitely unimpressed. She looks over and sees the suspect running off the roof into the building. She’s not catching this guy tonight. She looks at her watch and realises just how late it is. Shit.

\--------------

Regina watches Henry give Tink some frosting before she yells at him. He rolls his eyes and gets up to throw the piece of cake into the trash. He gives his mother a look before he says, “Told you. When are you going to wake up mom?”

“What do you mean by that?” she questions.

“Really? You’re better than this, it’s like we don’t exist to her. We’re just the family she drops in on occasion.” his face is blank, almost emotionless.

“That’s not true Henry, you know it’s not.” she replies, almost not believing the words coming from her own mouth.

“Well, I’m not going to hang out and wait all night, she doesn’t even care about her own birthday party. I need to go study.” He kisses his mother on the cheek as he walks out of the kitchen.

Regina stares at the table where a dish of cold lasagna and a half drunk bottle of wine sit. She can’t help but start to cry a little. Just one tear, that’s all that she will allow herself. She’s stronger than this, she’s not clingy, she knows how to be independent, but she also knows that she should be able to rely on the woman she married. Except, she’s not sure where that woman is. She trusts Emma, she loves Emma, but she’s running out of excuses to tell herself. 

She’s not even sure what to think anymore. She knows Emma is a workaholic, that was one of the qualities she loved about her when they met, but she feels like she comes second to Emma’s work and sometimes she just wants to come first. She stands up and starts to clean up the kitchen a little, she makes a plate of the lasagna and puts it in the fridge. She decides to leave the balloons up, and turns off the light.

It’s almost an hour later when she hears Emma come home. She’s sitting in the living room reading a book. She looks up and sees Emma’s apologetic face, she already knows what’s coming next.

“I’m so sorry, I had to do an emergency surgery on this college kid that got into a fight. I’m so so sorry.” Emma hates having to lie, she wishes she could tell the woman she loves more than anything else in the world what she really does. She wishes she could brag about taking down terrorists and bad guys, wishes she could tell the stories of the crimes she’s stopped, wishes she could send selfies that she knows would make her wife turned on beyond compare. Mostly she just wishes her wife could be proud of her, but instead she has to lie and in the process make her wife feel like she means less than the goddess that Emma believes her to be.

“It’s okay. I saved you some lasagna and cake at least.” she half smiles, but her eyes give her sadness away.

Emma pulls Regina up from the chair and engulfs her into a hug. She turns her face so that they’re eye to eye, she tries to convey all of the emotion that she can into the words when she speaks, “I love you. Thank you for the party.” 

She brings her lips to Regina’s and kisses her gently. She thinks she feels a hint of wetness on Regina’s cheek but she can’t say for sure. 

“Is Henry asleep?” Emma asks and Regina nods.

“Soooo….Can I show you my appreciation for the party or….” Emma tries to be smooth but just kind of trails off.

“It’s late Emma. We both have to work in the morning.” She wants Emma to take her to bed and to make love to her all night, but she’s still hurt and she isn’t sure if she’s in an emotional space for sex at the moment.

“I’ll be quick? You don’t even have to do any of the work! You can be my pillow princess tonight? Please?” Emma is almost begging.

Regina can’t help but say yes, maybe she’ll feel better afterwards. She hopes she will.

After a few moments of sloppy kisses they both furiously rub at the other’s clit, their orgasms hit within seconds of each other, and neither is very satisfied.


	6. Chapter 6

The next day Emma sits at her desk and sifts through pictures of suspects. She’s been at it all morning, chugged three red bulls, consumed two bear claws, and had to put her glasses on because her eyes are so tired, but she’s trying everything she can think of to find the man she saw last night, the guy she let get away.

She’s almost ready to take a break when the face that’s been haunting her pops up on the screen. She looks around for just a second and then starts doing a victory dance in her seat.

Mulan is pulled from her screen by the motion coming from the other side of the office.

“Um, are you alright over there buddy?” Mulan watches closely then realises what Emma is doing. “Wait. You found him? How?”

Emma says proudly, “Magic.”

Merlin volunteers to take point on gathering information on the guy, and Emma and Mulan are behind this, they use the time to get some fresh air.

“I’m just going to see if Regina is free for lunch.” Emma says and Mulan picks up the twinge of sadness in the statement.

“Everything okay?” The woman turns to look at her best friend. She’s known Emma and Regina for years, they’re like family to her.

“I messed up last night. I just want to spend some time with her, help smooth things over. I’ll be right back okay?”

Emma darts through the busy street and into Regina’s building. Regina works for a law firm, they deal mostly with family cases and it’s interesting enough for Regina.

Emma is almost to Regina’s cubicle when she hears Katherine telling Regina to answer the phone because her “mystery man” is calling.

She hears Regina ask Katherine if it’s “Killian”, it must be because she hears Regina picking up the phone. Emma physically takes a step back, her mind is racing, maybe Katherine is joking, maybe it’s a friend that needs legal advice, maybe it’s...it’s… well she’s not sure what it is.

She overhears Regina agreeing to meet this “Killian” in twenty minutes. Don’t jump to conclusions Emma, she tells herself.

But then Emma’s world falls apart.

Regina asks Katherine to cover her for an hour, she laughs and suggests Regina take two, and have the “stud take his time and to have fun”. She’s feels like she's going to be sick. She has to duck into a cubicle until Regina rushes past. She almost doesn’t want to leave the cubicle, but she can’t stay here.

She walks back down the hall to the elevator in a daze, she doesn’t realise she’s gone up and down four times until a stranger mentions it’s probably her stop. She mumbles a “thanks” at them and gets out of the metal box. 

Emma’s brain starts to panic. It runs through all of her own fears within seconds. How could this happen? She knows she’s away a lot, but is she really that horrible of a wife? Had she done something to suggest she didn’t love Regina anymore? Would she take Henry and move in with whoever this guy was? Was Emma that unloveable? The tears were streaking down her face, she couldn’t even see where she was going, she could feel the snot dripping down onto her clean button up shirt, but it didn’t matter. She could only feel numb, that this was her fault, and she was helpless. The only person that mattered in her life doesn't want her anymore. 

Mulan looks up to see her partner staggering into the road, almost getting hit by a bus. She pulls Emma to her and is horrified to see her friend in such a state. 

“Emma, what happened?” Mulan wipes the tears from her eyes, she’s not touching the snot though. 

Emma buries her face into Mulan’s shoulder and wails Regina’s name. Mulan is starting to get a little panicked.

“Emma it’s ok, what happened up there?” 

“Regina doesn’t love me, doesn’t want me.” Emma manages to squeeze out between breaths. 

“Emma look at me. I need you to breathe, you’re going to pass out if you don’t breathe.” She works on getting Emma to calm down enough to tell her what happened. It takes several more minutes before her partner is able to tell her.

Mulan is devastated. If Emma hadn’t been the one to tell her, she would never have believed it, not that she really can believe it to be true. She’s used to being the one to take things on the chin, but she’s not sure she can avoid being affected a little by this news. She assures Emma that Regina still loves her, but Emma isn’t really listening.

She thinks of what she knows helps her get through life, work. She knows that work will take Emma’s mind off all other things, hopefully enough for her to be a semi-functioning person.

They return to the office where Merlin gives his presentation on their new target, one Robert Gold. He states that they still have to determine his connection to Maleficent. He then discusses Gold’s links to different organisations including the Lost Boys, a Russian neo-nationalist group, the various pawn shops around the city that are actually just fronts, and a cult that seem to think of him as a god named the Dark One, but Emma isn’t listening. She’s too busy thinking about Regina. She has stopped crying thankfully, but the dazed look is still plastered on her face. Belle notices and pulls Emma aside after the meeting.

“Everything alright Emma, you look a little under the weather?” Sometimes her boss could be more than just a boss, almost like a motherly figure, and with Emma never having a mother it comforted Emma.

“I’m just dealing with some personal stuff. It won’t get in the way of work. I’m sorry.” Emma explains just before she is crushed in a hug.

“I’m here if you need me, Agent Swan. Any time you need to talk or anything, I consider you a friend and I hope you do as well.” Belle whispers gently.

“Thanks, boss”, she says meekly. 

When Emma arrives home that night she’s overwhelmed by the smell of food, she’s made it home in time for dinner. She puts on the happiest face she can muster and heads into the kitchen. Regina is stirring something on the stove and Emma stands in the doorway watching her. She thinks of how Regina doesn’t look any different, she hasn’t started wearing more makeup, changing her hair, wearing new perfume, any of the so-called signs that your spouse is cheating. Maybe she read the situation wrong.

She makes enough noise as she enters the kitchen as to not scare Regina. Regina turns to Emma, she smiles.

“You’re home! I didn’t hear you come in.” she puts down the ladle and turns the burner off.

“It’s all of my training in spy school.” Emma smirks.

Regina chuckles, “I happen to know you are the clumsiest person on the planet, so I’d say you failed that class, dear. Dinner’s going to be ready in a moment. Can you let Henry know?”

Emma walks to the bottom of the stairs and yells “Henry! Dinner!” Regina gives her a scolding look.

The three sit down to eat and Emma can’t help but be a bit curious, it is just in her nature, she has to say something.

“I swung by your work today. I thought I’d take you to lunch, but you weren’t there.” Emma states, trying to keep her voice neutral.

Regina almost chokes. “Really! You must have just missed me!” Regina starts her intricate story of lost paperwork, forgetful delivery men, and rushed deadlines. Emma’s blood runs cold. She’s lying. And if she’s lying that can only mean one thing. She really is cheating. 

Her thoughts are interrupted when Henry, who had been staring at his phone the entire dinner, gets up from the table and informs his parents that he has a study group to head to and won’t be home till later. When she finishes eating a little while later she walks into the living room and sees his books sticking out of his backpack that was carelessly dumped on the couch. She tries not to think of the fact that her son is also lying to her. Not after today. She’ll let this one go she thinks. She has other things to figure out.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning Emma is the one to pick up Mulan for work, and she barely has her hand on her seat belt when Emma informs her that they will be bugging Regina’s office and cell phone. 

Mulan looks at her partner like she has two heads. “I’m sorry, what?” She must have misheard.

“We are bugging her office, I need to know who this guy is, I need to know why.” She stares at Mulan. Her desperation evident in her eyes.

Mulan sighs. This will be nothing but trouble, and it won't end well. She’s been where Emma is, she knows the hurt that comes from the person you love cheating on you, but she also knows that both her and Emma’s asses will be on the line if anyone ever finds out.

“Emma, we can’t. You know we can’t without a warrant.”

“Don’t even start that shit! We’re the fucking CIA we can do whatever we want. Belle gave us the green light for all the taps on Gold, she won’t even notice a few extras thrown in. We’ll be careful, no one's going to find out. Please!” Emma slams her hands against the wheel and is almost crying, she needs this and Mulan’s heart breaks for her friend. There’s no way she can deny her request even if her brain is screaming at her to do so.

The following day the first thing Emma does when she gets to the office is check the transcripts from the previous day. She sees there’s a call between Regina and a caller using a burner phone that can only be identified as “Killian”. He had asked her to meet the following day for lunch at noon, at “their place”. Emma grits her teeth and continues reading. This “Killian” guy tells her wife not to say anything to anyone and keeps telling her that he needs her. She’s seething. She knows she’s going to have to take further action to figure out the truth.

After dinner that evening Emma walks into the study where she sees Regina typing away on her laptop. She looks up and sees Emma and immediately closes the laptop. 

“Hi. What’s up?” She says in a voice an octave higher than normal, almost like she’s panicking.

Emma loosens the tie she’s still wearing and sits on the couch in front of Regina.

“Nothing, I just was wondering if we could do lunch tomorrow since yesterday was a bust.” Emma already knows the answer, but acts nonchalant when Regina declines with some excuse about her coworker’s birthday.

Emma tells her she’s decided to go for a run and asks her to join, that too is declined. Emma can’t help but hide the hurt from that one. She prepares to go on her run, her run where she meets up with Mulan and ensures that the GPS tracker in Regina’s purse is in working order. When she gets back she sees the lights in the study are out, Regina has gone upstairs. She opens the laptop and turns on the screen only to be greeted with a password prompt. She tries a few birthday combos but nothing seems to work, she even tries their wedding date to no avail. Emma closes the screen and leaves the study.

Regina is sitting in bed reading when Emma emerges from the shower, part of her hoping that Regina would have joined her, but then she pictures her touching some guy and she is glad that her shower was solo.

She peels back the covers and slips into bed. She feels Regina’s eyes on her as she turns on her side with her back to her wife and closes her eyes. She keeps the tears at bay until after Regina turns off the light and settles into bed, she lets a few leak out before sleep claims her.

In the middle of the night Emma wakes up to find herself spooning Regina, she lets herself have this, pushes all other thoughts aside, and just breathes in her wife's scent, relishing in the feeling of her wife’s skin touching hers. Again the tears come, and this time she doesn’t fight them.


	8. Chapter 8

Emma watches the minutes go by on her watch, mentally counting down the minutes until her wife is due to meet up with this Killian guy. She feels like vomiting but she is committed to this, she had to know who this guy is. She can’t wait any longer and walks to Mulan’s desk.

“Ready?” 

Mulan looks up from her computer and gives Emma a sad smile, she can tell her partner isn’t backing down from this. She stands up, grabs her suit jacket, and looks back and nods at Emma.

The two are almost at Regina’s office when the GPS trackers starts moving. Emma uses her training to tail Regina until she pulls over and gets out of her Mercedes. Emma parks the car down the street and watches as Regina ducks into a shady restaurant in Chinatown. 

Mulan flips on the audio feed, there’s a mic in the GPS as well, spy technology is amazing. They hear a man’s voice ask in a British accent if Regina was followed, this must be Killian. 

He tells her that he could be called away at any moment and that he feels bad for putting Regina at risk like this, but he has to do it because it’s his job. Emma and Mulan simultaneously side eye the receiver.

Regina asks him about his mission and he immediately shushes her. 

“We call it an Op love. It was a little rough but I prevailed, just as I always do.” the bastard says smugly.

Regina asks him if it was worse than Syria. He says some comment about this being much more hardcore.

Emma turns to look at Mulan but finds Mulan is already looking at her.

“He’s a spy. Emma, he’s probably working her to get to you. This is bad. Very bad.” Emma nods in agreement.

Then Killian asks Regina if she’s seen the news recently, he makes reference to a shooting at a Starbucks and a chase through a hotel. He claims it’s all cover for an ongoing op.

Regina asks him if that was him and he takes credit for it. Except it was Emma. 

“What the actual fuck! That was me? No one gets to impress my wife with my ops but me. Fuck this guy!” 

Emma cannot believe what she is hearing and apparently neither can Mulan who is on the verge of laughing. She can’t hold in the laughter when he starts telling Regina about how his training saved the day, and that he thought he was going to die a few times. This guy has seen way too many spy movies. 

“I’d almost go drink with this guy just to see what other bullshit he comes up with!” Mulan is still laughing when a glare from Emma grinds that to a screeching halt.

Killian tells Regina he has to go, but that he will contact her soon, and that she can’t trust anyone. He leaves first and Emma follows behind in the black sedan the government provides her.

When he pulls a classic Mustang into a used car lot and parks, they both get a good look at the guy. He’s wearing leather pants and a leather jacket, he also looks like he hasn’t washed or shaved in days. Mulan can’t help but comment. “Wow. This is beyond bad, how is Regina cheating on you with this creep.”

Emma lets out a whimper and Mulan apologises. Mulan volunteers to be the one to make contact with him, but Emma refuses. She walks into the lot and begins to look at the same car Killian had been driving before, it now has a sale tag in the window. This guy can’t even afford his own car.

She doesn’t have to wait very long before she hears “It wants you too love!”

She turns and looks at the guy, he’s attractive she’ll give him that but her willpower to not kill the guy on the spot is being put to the test. She tells herself he’s just a mark, no different from any of the other men she’s dealt with in her job.

“The only way to know if it’s true love is to take a spin.” He opens the passenger door for her, she can feel him checking out her ass.

He jogs around to get in the driver’s seat and leers at her, “Okay love. You might want to hold on to something, I drive fast, but don’t worry I know how to handle myself.” 

He slams down his foot on the gas, hauling it out of the lot and onto the street, Emma is thankful she’s wearing her seatbelt as to not have to slide closer to this guy. He makes a few more obscenely misogynistic comments about her body and Emma can’t take his flirting much longer. “My wife always says that I drive too fast, but if you’re not driving fast then what are you doing on the road.”

He does a double take at her almost as if he’s deciding if he should still continue trying to get in her pants. By some miracle, he decides not to, and he seems to shift his whole sales pitch.

“Ahhh, so you’re looking for an escape from the ball and chain? I get it. Well, this baby she’s not just a car, she’s a lifestyle. She doesn’t handle that well, she’ll probably need more work, but that’s not what she’s about am I right?” He looks over at her and wiggles his eyebrows, could he get any more creepy.

“This baby is all about pussy. The birds go wild for it. God, I can’t even imagine how many birds will throw their knickers at you in this car. I’m almost jealous.” He laughs like it’s the funniest thing ever, Emma plays along and laughs a little.

He revs the engine a touch and pulls over at a food truck. They both order some lunch and continue talking. 

“A car like this is only half the battle though, you have to have that angle, that thing that they can’t resist. I mean I’m a pretty face, if I do say so myself, but that only gets you so far, then you’ve got to have that angle. That’s what gets them lining up.”

“So what’s your angle then?” Emma asks him. 

“Ah, but a gentleman never tells” he says smugly. It only takes Emma prying a tiny amount before he’s bragging all about the angle.

“Women like danger, excitement, a bad boy. For most married women the most excitement they have is when someone calls the wrong number. I help create it for them.” he says, mouth still full of food.

“But you’re lying to them, aren’t you afraid of getting caught?” Emma asks curiously.

“Always, but that helps keep that element of danger alive. It’s a fantasy for them and you have to pick the right ones, the ones that are so bored that with a little attention they’re willing to do whatever, whenever.” he tosses the keys to Emma.

She gets behind the wheel and she has to admit, it is a very sexy car. She drives fast and aggressive, and Killian notices it and comments on her skills.

“You working anyone right now?” This is it, Emma is determined to find out the truth.

He half smiles, “I always have a few, but there’s one right now. She’s a queen I’d happily kneel before, if you know what I mean.”

Emma tenses. “What does she do for work?”

“She works for some law firm, it’s all very boring, I don’t bother myself with those details.”

“How is she in bed though?” Emma forces the words from her mouth, each syllable feels like acid.

“Her ass is amazing and her tits, my god.” 

Emma can’t help but to imagine punching him. All it would take was one well-placed hit and she could break multiple bones in his face, possibly even paralyse him. When he yells about missing the turn she snaps back to reality. She whips the car almost sideways and barrels into the lot, slams on the breaks and comes to stop right in the exact spot the car had been parked before. 

Killian looks a little scared, “You were meant for this car. I have some other people interested, but I like you. I can get the paperwork started and have you out of here within the hour. What do you say?”

“I’m not totally sure. Let me sleep on it?” She uses the puppy dog eyes.

He considers it for a half second before agreeing. She leaves the lot and heads back to work with Mulan, she can’t get the image of her wife sleeping with Killian out of her mind.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: A little bit of DubCon in this, there is no actual assault though. There is also more Hook in this, I'm sorry.

“Here’s today’s transcripts, not a whole lot going on,” Mulan tells Emma as she hands over a stack of papers. Emma starts thumbing through them even though she should be focusing on the fact that she is driving. 

Mulan jerks her head towards Emma when she suddenly slams on the brakes and pulls the car over. 

“Where is it? Emma demands.

Mulan tries to play it off, “Where’s what?”

Emma gets out of the car and walks to Mulan’s side. She opens the door and sticks her hand out.

“Give me the damn page Fa. I know there’s a page missing, they’re numbered. Give it. Now.” 

With reluctance, Mulan fishes the missing page from her briefcase and hands it to Emma. Killian and Regina are meeting up tonight, or rather in less than an hour. Emma checks the GPS tracker but sees that her wife is still at home, or at least her purse is.

Emma gets back into the car and drives as fast as she can in the direction of the meeting. She gets on the radio and redirects some of the surveillance units to the location of the meet as they’re closer. Mulan questions her about pulling department resources from an active surveillance, but quickly shuts up when Emma reminds her about the time she had done the same thing when she was dating Ruby.

\------  
Regina is nervous but excited, she still can't quite decide why she’s standing under a bridge waiting for a man she barely knows. She looks at her watch and sees that it’s almost eight, her nerves are starting to grow. She reaches for the handle of the Mercedes, she’s just about to go back home when she sees a car approaching, it’s Killian.

He pulls up beside her and tells her to get in. He looks around several times while she gets into the car, and then drives away. They make it only a short distance before he looks at her and tells her that things are happening and they can’t afford to be spotted together. He pushes her head into his lap explaining that it's for her safety but the expression on his face, that she cannot see, is of pure self-satisfaction.

What neither Killian or Regina knows is that they are being watched by one of the units directed by Emma. They also are unaware that Emma is being told, in detail, of their positions in the vehicle.

If Killian actually had any spy training it was not kicking in at all as he fails to notice the helicopter that follows them as they make their way out of the city. He pulls the car into a mobile home park and stops in front of a small trailer. As they get out of the car Regina looks around unimpressed, even when Killian informs her that this is a safe house because his place is too hot.

When she walks into the trailer a sense of regret starts to take hold, she’s still not sure why she's here.

Killian fumbles around the trailer, putting on some soft music, and pouring some glasses of wine. He hands her one of the glasses, it’s made out of cheap plastic.

He clinks her glass in toast, and that’s when Regina can take no more.

“Why am I here, what do you want from me, Killian?”

He gives her a smile, “I want you to be my wife Regina.”

She almost chokes on her wine, “You do realise I’m married, right?”

“I need to appear to be a married man, for an operation in Paris. They won’t be looking for a couple.” He turns away as he speaks so she can’t see the look of bullshit on his face as he speaks.

“You want me to go to Paris with you, is that right?”

“I need you Regina, there’s a double agent and I don’t know who it is, I can’t trust anyone else right now.” He continues.

She’s still unsure, she’s married, she has Henry, she has a life, she can’t just up and leave, can she? She downs the rest of her wine.

She sits on the couch and he continues explaining his case, that it'll only be for a few days, and that she won’t be in any danger. He pours her more wine, which she quickly drinks. As they continue to talk about going to Paris Regina decides.

“I’ll do it.” She states and he looks almost as shocked as she does.

“You’re a lifesaver. You are literally saving my life right now.” He’s in and he knows it. He sits down next to her and tells her that they need to project being a couple in love. He places his hand on her thigh and she jumps.

“That would get us killed love. You need to relax, let this happen. Just let yourself feel what emotions a couple in love would feel, the love you would feel for me.” He moves in again, this time he kisses her ear.

She can’t help but feel uncomfortable. She doesn’t love this man, she keeps thinking how this is wrong. She feels him leaning into her trying to paw at her body, feel whatever he can, this is wrong. It's been so many years since she’s been touched by anyone but Emma. Her mind repeats Emma’s name. She can’t, this is wrong. She struggles and tries to push him off, but he continues trying to kiss her. Regina musters all of her strength and slips her foot in between them and uses it to kick him off of her.

“I can’t do this!” She yells at him.

He’s undeterred, starting towards her again when the lights in the room suddenly go dark. The two look around in confusion. A bright light hits them forcing both to close their eyes, then comes the loud bang of some kind of small explosion. Killian is knocked forward by the force of the blast and lands right between Regina’s legs. He clings to her and by the sheer instinct of fear alone she clings to him. 

Regina opens her eyes to several figures dressed all in black swarming into the trailer. One of them pulls Killian off of her and zip ties his hands together before placing a black sack over his head. The figures then come for her, she tries to fight them when they grab her, she even bites one of them, but it’s all over when they hit her with the butt of a weapon and she staggers to the ground. She tries to crawl away but one of the figures grabs her and hauls her up. The figure shoves her into a van, she can hear Killian pleading with the figures to take her and leave him alone. When the doors to the van shut her world goes still as she gives into the pain throbbing from her head.


	10. Chapter 10

Emma is still a little mad at her team for hitting Regina, but she understands it was just their natural reaction, still, she can’t help but scowl at the men in the booth when she and Mulan enter. The booth is state of the art, heat sensors, cameras, light controls, the works. Emma gets a notification that Regina has been placed in the room that the booth overlooks, she flicks on the light illuminating the interrogation room.

Regina begins pacing around the room screaming for someone to let her out. She tries the door several times and tries to look in the one-way mirror with no success.

“Sit down.” Regina jumps at the suddenness of the voice which has been electronically altered so that she won’t recognise that it’s really Emma.

Slowly Regina walks to the chair that is in the middle of the room. She sits down, but her posture is stoic and rebellious.

Emma starts with some basic questions, just to see how cooperative Regina will be. She asks about Regina’s job, which of course Regina takes to mean her legal work. After an explanation of her duties as a lawyer, Emma changes tactics.

“Now tell me about your real job. The work you’re doing for the international terrorist known as Hook.” Emma looks at Mulan as she flips on the body heat sensor. If they’re going to do this, they’re using all of the tools.

“I just met this Hook, or whatever his name is, a few weeks ago. I barely know him.” The seriousness of the situation is starting to rattle Regina, her words are not as sure as Emma knows them to normally sound.

“You barely know the man yet you’re sleeping with him?” Mulan interjects and Emma’s scowl now falls on her partner.

Emma turns back towards Regina and asks “You say you just met him, how did you meet him?”

Regina begins the story of how she met Killian, it could almost be from a spy movie. She was alone at a coffee shop when a random handsome man walked by and told her to hold on to his bag. He seemed nervous and skittish. Regina let her curiosity win out and opened the bag when she returned to her office. Inside of the bag had been multiple passports, various currencies, a cell phone, and at the bottom of the bag a gun. She had been a little scared, and when the phone rang the next day she almost didn’t answer it.

She tells Emma that she thought of going to the police, but she wasn’t sure if they would have taken her seriously because even to her it sounded far-fetched.

“Why did you help him?” the voice booms into the room.

“He said he needed help, and I thought I could do something good for someone.” Regina shifts in the chair.

“You weren’t only helping him because you were attracted to him?”

Regina yells a “No!” almost immediately

Emma tries again, “So, you weren’t attracted to him at all?”

Regina looks around ashamed, “Maybe a little.”

Mulan leans over to ask “Is cheating on your wife something that’s common for you?”

Regina’s posture goes rigid. “No, absolutely not.”

“Is this your first time then?” Mulan presses. Emma pushes her away from the microphone. They need to be a little more subtle.

“I am not cheating on my wife.” Regina enunciates every word of the sentence.

“Tell me about your wife.” demands the voice.

Regina looks almost shocked at the question. “Emma? What does she have to do with this?”

“Please answer the question Mrs Swan-Mills. Tell me about your wife.”

“Emma is a dentist, she works a lot. I don’t really know what you want to know.” Regina doesn’t like where this questioning is going.

“Do you think your wife is boring?” Emma tries to keep the emotions out of her voice. She needs to know if she’s lost her wife, needs to know if there is still hope that their relationship can be fixed.

“Yes, I suppose so.” Regina looks straight ahead as she answers, but Emma can tell she’s saddened by the answer she’s given.

Mulan also knows that Emma needs the truth and decides to be the bad guy here. She asks Regina, “So I'm guessing you feel the need to get it on the side since your sex life is pretty boring then as well?”

“That is none of your business!” Regina scoffs at the question. “I will not answer questions like that.”

Emma reminds Regina of the situation and that she must answer every question no matter how detailed or embarrassing she finds the questions.

Regina takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, “My wife is a good person. She has nothing to do with this. Please just leave her out of it. I’ll tell you whatever you want, just leave her out of it.”

Emma can’t help but feel a spark of emotion, almost a little bit of pride at her wife’s defence of her, but she still needs to find out why Regina sought comfort away from her arms.

“What did Hook want from you?” Emma inquires.

“He wanted me to pose as his wife in Paris so he wouldn’t get caught, that’s all he told me.” The shame slowly creeps back into Regina’s eyes.

“Why would you help him, why would you agree to that if you barely knew him?” Emma asks.

“That’s the question I’ve been asking myself since I said yes. I guess I just needed something.” Regina trails off, her eyes downcast.

Emma is almost in tears, this hurts so much, but if there’s any hope for them, she needs to finish this. “What did you need?”

“I needed to feel alive. To feel trusted. To feel special again. I needed to do something crazy, something that challenged my comfort level. I’ve been treading the same water for years, I needed to shake it up and live a little.” She looks almost defeated and it’s breaking Emma’s heart. She wishes she wasn’t a coward and could do this face to face, but she knows it’s easier this way.

“Did you sleep with Killian?” Emma squeaks the words that physically hurt to say out of her mouth.

“No.” Regina whispers.

Mulan doesn’t believe it, not yet. She calls Regina out on it, and Regina grows a bit aggravated telling them again she didn’t sleep with Killian. When she asks how much longer the interview will take Mulan informs her that it’ll be done when they are done.

That’s when Regina snaps. She’s had enough. She walks to the mirror and begins to slam her palms against the surface, she then grabs the chair and swings it repeatedly into the window, all the while screaming that she didn’t sleep with Killian. When the mirror starts to crack under the repeated blows Emma knows she needs to calm her wife down.

“Please calm down! I only have one more question and then we will be done, but I need you to calm down.”

Regina throws the chair to the ground and looks defeated and on the verge of tears. “What? What now?”

“Do you still love your wife?” Emma pours every thought of love into the question, willing the answer she longs to hear emerge from her wife’s mouth.

Regina looks up, and if Emma didn’t know better she would almost think Regina was looking right at her as she answers. “Yes. I love her, I have always and will always love her. She’s my everything. I just want to get home to her.”

Both women are crying now. Mulan slaps Emma on the back shaking her from the swirl of emotions. “She loves you, but now what?”

Emma clears her throat and wipes the tears from her eyes. “Well, Mrs Swan-Mills, there is only one answer to this little conundrum. You have to work for us instead.”

“Emma, what the hell are you doing?” Mulan is beyond confused, this was not the plan.

“I’m gonna spice up her life. Nothing crazy, just a little assignment.” Emma smirks.

“Here’s your choice Mrs Swan-Mills, you work for us and there won’t be any charges. You will be free to go or, you get put back in the bag and will be taken to some facility god knows where and your family will never hear from you again.” Emma grins, sometimes she likes to be a little nefarious.

Regina scoffs but accepts the offer immediately. She even reluctantly agrees when Emma reiterates that no one, not even Regina’s wife can know, for matters of national security of course.

“When we make contact your handler’s code name will be Charming. Your code name will be…”

“Snow White?” Regina makes a face of disgust.

“No. Ariel.” She chuckles when Regina rolls her eyes.

Emma signals on her radio for one of her team to take Regina home, and to treat her with the utmost care. She would have done it herself, but she didn’t want to risk Regina discovering her, and she also has some other business that she needs to finish.

\------

After pulling a body from the van Emma and Mulan make their way towards the edge of a giant cliff overlooking the beach. They hoist the body up and remove the black bag covering the body's head.

It’s Killian. It takes his eyes a few second to adjust to his situation before he starts screaming.

“Shut up Hook.” Mulan says, already annoyed with this guy.

He turns and looks at them, they’re still just masked figures to him.

He whimpers in fear, “My name is Killian you’ve got the wrong guy. Please just let me go.”

Emma speaks up, “Oh no, we know all about you Hook. We know about your terrorist plots and how you aim to take down the government. You think you’re going to live after this?”

“What no! No no no. It’s not me, I swear I’m just a car salesman, I don’t know anything about terrorists. You have the wrong guy! I haven’t seen your faces so we can just pretend this never happened.” He’s a weasel trying to weasel his way out.

Emma nods at Mulan and they take off their masks. A look of horror flashes on his face before recognition hits.

“You! Wait you know me, you know I’m just a car salesman!” He tries to reason with them.

“You really think we would make a mistake and catch the wrong guy? Are you calling us dumb? Em, I think he’s calling us dumb” Mulan jokes.

“I think so too, give it up Hook, we’ve been after you for years. I’ve spent too many nights tracking your ass down rather than being with my family. Give me one reason I shouldn’t just kill you right here and throw your body into the ocean?” This feels so good to Emma, the best revenge she could have ever hoped for honestly.

“You...you still want that car? I’ll give it to you for free, it’s yours, just please don’t kill me.” He starts to whine, and are those tears, yes, yes they are.

“We can just take the car after we kill you. Try again.” Emma is trying so hard not to laugh, she’s honestly impressed with herself.

“I’m not a spy. Everything I told you was the truth! I’m nothing, I’m not even English!” His accent changes, “I’m from Kansas. I have to lie to women to get them to sleep with me because I’ve got a little dick, it’s pathetic. I'm no one, just a sad little...oh no!” He emits a high pitched cry when he sees that Emma has pulled out her gun, it’s loaded with blanks of course, but he doesn't know that.

A sudden noise draws Emma and Mulan’s attention to the shorts that Killian is wearing. The shorts that are now becoming soaked with urine.

Around tears, he asks “would a spy pee himself?” He begs them, “I’m not worth a bullet! Please don’t kill me”.

Emma pushes him away and tells him to get the fuck out of her sight. Adamant that they’re still going to kill him, Killian refuses to turn around to walk back from the cliff. It takes Mulan firing a few blanks near him for him to finally stagger away from them. They get back in the van and drive off, leaving the man miles away from the road and soaked in his own urine.


	11. Chapter 11

The next few days in the Swan-Mills house are uneventful. Emma keeps a watchful eye on Regina’s behaviour, trying to see if she acts any differently after her adventures, she’s not quite sure how to take it when she doesn't notice any difference.

Emma forms a plan of action for Regina in her mind, but it’s not quite ready yet, she’s actually working on one of the finishing touches today. She’s having one of the girls in the department do some voice recording, the woman is from Italy, so Emma knows the accent will throw off Regina. 

The woman sees Emma walking by and pops her head out of the booth. “Emma what the hell is this shit?” 

Emma smiles apologetically before telling her a lie about it being for a case they’re working on, they don’t work on the same team so she’ll never know.

She checks in with Mulan, the status on their actual assignment hasn’t changed much, they’re still trying to figure out how Gold, Maleficent and Spencer connect to each other, it’s a puzzle they can’t seem to solve. They’ve got bugs in all of the suspect’s offices, but don’t seem to be getting any information from those. The agents tailing the suspects have also been coming up with nothing. It’s all very frustrating for the team. 

Emma decides she is calling it a day and heads home. She’s a little shocked to see the shoes that indicate her son is home, he’s been studying with his friends a lot lately. She knocks on his door and waits a few moments for him to open the door, she knows he is a teenager after all. She hears some muffled sounds and it takes Henry longer than normal to open the door.

He looks a little dishevelled and short of breath when he opens the door. “Ma! What um, are you doing home?”

She takes in the state of him and really doesn’t want to think about what he might have been doing. Nope. Nope. Nope. She asks him if he wants to play some video games. He looks around for just a second before he moves a little into the hall closing the door behind him. 

“Sure? I’m pretty busy but that sounds fun. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be down, just need to use the bathroom.”

She's so happy about getting to hang out with her son she doesn’t question anything, she simply nods and heads down the stairs to the living room. It’s about ten minutes later when Henry comes down, he looks a little more composed this time.

He takes up the spot on the other side of the couch from Emma and eyes her a little when he grabs the controller. Emma starts up a game of the newest Star Wars game, she hasn’t had a chance to play this one yet. She can still feel his eyes on her.

“Everything okay kid? How’s school? I know you’ve been studying a lot.” She tries. It’s been so long since they’ve had a conversation that felt normal.

He sighs and pauses the game. “It’s fine Ma. You know I get good grades, mom would kill me if I didn’t.”

Emma chuckles, because that is one hundred percent accurate.

“That’s true. You, um, would talk to your mother or me if you got into trouble or something though, right?”

He scrunches up his face, “What are you talking about?”

“I know you stole money from Mulan’s jacket the other day.” She sighs. 

His eyes go wide and he just stares at her.

“Henry, do you remember the day we met?” She asks the now confused teenager.

“Um? What do you mean” he says.

“You were so tiny and you looked up at me and I just knew that you weren't just my son, you would be my best friend. I also knew I was going to do everything in my power to protect you and keep you safe. That still stands. If you're in some kind of trouble or need some help all you have to do is say the word. I’m here for you, okay?” She hoped her words were getting through.

His eyes wander down at his lap for a moment seemingly making a decision before looking back up and starting, “I mean I don't know when, I guess I've kind of always known but like recently I knew for sure.” He took a deep breath, “Ma, I’m…” as the sentence began to start a ringing comes from Emma’s phone startling both of them.

Pulling the phone out of her pocket she sees that it’s Mulan calling. She stands up and turns towards the window, away from Henry as she answers the call. In turning away she misses the look of pain crossing Henry’s face before he stands up and walks out of the room almost in tears.

Emma doesn’t notice him leave, Mulan tells her that the plan is ready. Operation Queenmaker is a go. Emma smiles before looking back at the now empty seat, her smile fades.


	12. Chapter 12

Regina stares at her phone for two whole rings before the conversation and threats from the unknown voice blare through her mind and she answers the call from a blocked caller.

Her heart almost stops when she hears the voice that has been plaguing her thoughts. “Ariel?”

Her throat goes dry, her mind races with what’s to come. She takes a deep breath before answering, willing the confidence to ring through in her voice, “Yes.”

“You’ve been tasked. The Jefferson Hotel, 8 pm. Ask the concierge for an envelope, and dress sexy.” The voice demands before hanging up.

Regina stares at her phone in shock, unsure of just what exactly she is going to be doing but thinking how it doesn’t sound that bad, but then again she thinks, who knows exactly what she’s in for.

Regina takes stock of what she’s wearing, her slacks and blouse are perfect business wear, but are by no means 5-star hotel material. She begins to look through her closet hoping she won’t find herself explaining this to her family, she isn’t sure what lie she would even say. She manages to avoid any lies, Emma has gone to the gym and Henry has a study group tonight. She pulls out a dress, it’s black and classy and she guesses it will do. She throws on her high heels, a scarf, and her pea coat, it almost feels like armour.

She makes it to the hotel and finds the concierge where she gets the next set of instructions, she must plant a bug in a room, the room of a woman who is possibly an arms dealer. Regina sets her jaw as she processes the next part of her assignment. She will be pretending to be an escort for said arms dealer. She is reassured that the woman only watches, somehow that small fact reassures Regina a great deal. Regina can do this, she was in theatre in high school, sure it was her mother’s influence, but she could do this.

She makes her way to the bathroom, taking care of her nervous bladder. As she washes her hands she takes in her appearance, she knows this is all an act but she still needs to look the part. Her dress is hugging her in all the right places, but she removes the scarf from around her neck, pulls the tie and clips from her hair allowing it to flow freely, and finally she makes sure she adjusts _the girls_ so they were a little more prominent. Her Evil Cleavage, that’s what Emma always calls them.

Emma. Regina almost loses her footing thinking about her wife. She must be strong, she must do this for Emma, and for Henry, for her family. She catches the gleam of her wedding ring, she prys it off of her finger and places it on the other hand while trying not to think about how she’s never actually taken her ring off before. She takes another look in the mirror before she decides to quickly apply some makeup, a few shades darker than her normal colours. It gives her a commanding appearance, it will be her mask, she is the epitome of sexy. She smirks at her reflection before leaving the room.

Regina lets herself into the hotel room with the keycard that was provided in her envelope, she quickly notices the other person in the room. She cannot see their face due to the lighting, but she can tell it’s female and built rather well. She definitely looks like an arms dealer, Regina thinks as she puts her coat and purse down on the table.

She walks to the middle of the room, attempting to gather herself and informs the woman that she’s filling in for the regular girl, the accented voice tells her to have some of the wine on the table. Regina takes a sip, only to calm her nerves of course. She is pleasantly surprised to note that it’s her favourite wine, she quickly throws back the glass, for nerves.

She glances back at the woman before she is told to take off her dress. She closes her eyes, for her family, she thinks as she clumsily grabs the zipper.

“No, no stop. I want you to do it slowly.” the woman scolds.

The dress is halfway down her back as Regina turns her back to the woman, she pulls the dress down in a slow even movement before letting it slide off of her body. She’s left in just her black bra, black lacy thong, and fuck me heels. She stands awaiting another command. When she is instructed to dance her face scrunches in confusion.

Regina is awkward, she hasn’t danced in ages, except for the dancing games she used to play with Henry. She moves her arms, hoping it doesn’t come across too jerky, too much like the moves she learnt from the Xbox.

“Stop. I want you to dance sexily. Pretend you’re with your lover, their hands are your hands. Feel them caressing your body as you feel the music.”

Regina closes her eyes trying to focus on the beat of the song playing in the room. She moves her hands from her sides, sliding them across the plain of her abdomen pushing them towards the swell of her breasts. She imagines they are Emma’s hands, she imagines the last time they truly made love. Her hips instinctively begin to move in time with the music. Her hands roam across her body, cupping her breasts just as Emma would before they move back down almost cupping her sex. Hands roam to hips, then across her firm ass, fingers digging into skin. Her mind is lost in the moment and her body is just tagging along for the ride. She grabs the post of the bed and begins to dance the way she would if her Emma was there, a ghost lap dance with no lap. She grinds against the air seeking friction that doesn't exist. It’s only when she leans down and drops the bug that she comes back to her situation. This is not her Emma, and this is not a safe place, she quickly picks up the bug and places it in her mouth, slowly sucking the digit as she removes it from her mouth.

The woman instructs her to lay on the bed, Regina has a bad feeling about this, this woman only likes to watch, that’s what she was told. When the instructions are repeated she knows she has no choice. She lays down on the bed and can’t help her body from shivering. She can get through this. She tries to focus on her mission. When the bed dips next to her she is sure she can feel her pulse jump by twenty, she is terrified. She jumps slightly when she feels a flower on her skin, she thinks it's a rose going solely on the smell. Her eyes are shut so tight and she wills them not to open.

The flower slowly caresses her body for a moment before she feels the woman moving, there are suddenly lips on hers. This is the line, she cannot do this, she can’t and she won’t. Her hand grabs the first thing it comes into contact with and she swings, the alarm clock smashing into a head. The woman yelps in pain and falls to the floor. Regina scrambles off of the bed, she immediately grabs her dress to cover herself. She feels a hand on her leg and kicks the woman writhing around on the floor. She remembers her mission and places the bug in the vase near the bed before grabbing her purse. She hears her name, wait that voice.

“Regina, Regina wait!” Emma cries while holding her head.

Regina knows she must be hallucinating, there is no way she is looking at her wife right now. “Emma?”

“Okay just let me explain, it’s not what it looks like.” Emma replies clearly in discomfort.

Before Regina has a chance to process what’s happening there’s a loud bang, someone has kicked in the door of the room. There’s a lot of yelling and screaming, and men with guns.

Regina thinks the men must be connected to her current mission and that she must protect Emma, she screams at the men to take her and leave Emma, she almost screams at Emma when Emma tells the men to take her and leave “the escort”. When they are met near a plane by a blonde female that seems to know Emma, but calls her Nolan, not Swan-Mills, is the moment Regina thinks that she might not be the target after all.

Regina finds herself defending her marriage with Emma to the blonde as Emma keeps insisting they just met and that their captors let Regina go. The blonde laughs and toasts Regina with her champagne when she shows off their matching tattoos, a Swan wearing a crown. There’s a sharp pain in Regina’s neck and everything goes dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've never seen the actual film, do yourself a favour and at least watch the scene this chapter is based on.


	13. Chapter 13

“Have you heard the good news? I caught the Saviour!” Mal looks as smug as she sounds. She walks up to Robert Gold and wraps her arms around him, kissing him deeply.

He pulls back slightly, “I didn’t think you had it in you, dearie.” His eyes glint with the taunt.

“Oh now, you really doubted me? You should know better than that. I told you I would deliver her, and I have. When do I get my reward?” She asks as she slides her hands down his torso.

He grabs her hands and holds them firmly in place, “Tsk tsk, business first. There will be time for that later, but we need to make sure that nothing gets in the way of our plans. I’ve waited a long time for this opportunity and I’m not going to let it slip away because I let a little thing like pleasure get in the way.”

“Stop being a buzzkill Gold. We’ve got her! Hell, it even seems that we caught her wife.” She smirks at him. 

“Well now. That could be very very useful. I'm sure the Saviour would do everything in her power to make sure no one hurts a hair on her precious wife.” His voice lilting through the office. 

“I'm sure she would. Shall we go talk to the Saviour’s wife, see what she knows?” Mal asks Gold as they approach the room holding Emma and Regina. 

\-----  
Emma’s eyes blink open just as a smell reaches her nose. She closes her eyes and scrunches her face trying to get the smell out of her nose. She tries to move her hands and she’s slightly confused when they don’t move. Her eyes snap back open when her mind catches up to her current situation. Her eyes dart around the room looking for Regina. 

The room is poorly lit and practically empty but dirty. Regina sits bound to a chair across the room, she’s still unconscious but she looks otherwise unharmed. Emma tests her hands again, she has some leeway with the handcuffs around them but not enough to escape the chair. She wiggles a little in the chair and when it moves Emma works it more. She inches closer and closer to Regina. She whispers Regina’s name once she’s close enough. She sees Regina twitch slightly, becoming more conscious by the second.

“Regina, come on wake up. Come on, I need you to wake up, please!” 

Regina’s eyes flutter and her head picks up. “Emma I’m going to kill you.” She says with venom in her voice as she turns to look at her wife.

“Okay, but let me explain.” Emma starts.

“Really, Emma?” Regina snaps back and Emma just sort of looks like a deer caught in the headlights. She knows she has beyond fucked up, she just wanted to put some excitement in her wife’s life, give her a taste of what she goes through, but she can’t even do that right. Emma decides right there when they get out of here she is going to tell Regina everything, her job will have to understand.

“I know I’m going to have to say this about a thousand more times, but I’m sorry. This is all my fault.” she whispers.

Before Regina has a chance to reply a loud click echos through the room, and the metal door is opened. Maleficent and Gold walk through the door with two armed guards trailing directly behind them.

“I see you two are awake. Nice to see you again Emma. Though I see you lied to me about your last name. I kind of liked Nolan more than Swan-Mills, it’s less of a mouthful.” Mal pulls Emma’s chair away from Regina back towards the centre of the room, putting a leg on either side and straddling her. Emma immediately turns her head away in disgust, she really is not a fan of this woman.

“Lady, you smell bad. It’s like a cucumber went rancid or something.” Mal strikes her across the face as she lifts off the chair. Then she spits in Emma’s face.

Regina pulls at the cuffs, she doesn't know this woman, but no one touches her wife, this woman is going to pay. 

“We could have had some fun Saviour, pity you’re going to die instead. Maybe your wife would be up for some fun instead, she is gorgeous.” Mal turns her eyes to Regina but quickly looks back at the thrashing and screaming Emma.

“Don’t you fucking touch her! I will break every goddamn bone in your body if you do! You fucking bitch!” Emma is screaming with fire in her voice and her eyes.

Regina is taking in the scene playing out before her. She really has no idea what is going on, who is this woman, and who is the man in the suit standing off to the side. Her eyes meet Mal’s and she knows, this woman is unstable, she is not a person that can be reasoned with, she swallows the bile that has risen in her throat.

“I’m only going to say this once. You will cooperate Saviour. If you don’t your dear wifey here will pay the price and we wouldn’t want to harm such a beautiful creature now would we?” Mal focuses her eyes back on Emma, challenging the bound blonde to provoke her.

“If you ladies are done marking your territory I believe we have some business to discuss.” Gold finally speaks. 

“What do you want Gold? This level of retaliation is a little extreme just for killing a few of your lackeys.” Emma retorts.

“This has nothing to do with that Saviour, I can replace them. This is about something much bigger than that. This is me getting what I’m owed.” there’s a slight tone of anger mixed into his voice.

Emma takes a deep breath while rolling her eyes. “So you’re a villain hell bent on revenge and I’m somehow to blame, got it. But I’ve gotta ask, why do you keep calling me Saviour, that isn’t even my call sign.” 

Gold cannot help the smile that spreads on his face. “Oh you see dearie, you are the Saviour. The one who is going to give me back my magic.”


	14. Chapter 14

“Magic?” Emma laughs while Regina scoffs and looks at the man incredulously. 

Gold is suddenly inches from Emma's face, the laughing subsiding instantaneously. “Laugh now, but in a few hours, you’ll see. Everything will make sense, yet nothing will make sense, it will be delicious.” 

Emma can see nothing but the man’s face, his eyes showing no signs of joking, he believes what he is saying, and that scares Emma. She knows she needs to play this right, rely on her years of training to get her and Regina out of this situation alive. 

“What happens in a few hours?” Emma’s eyes snap to the source of the voice, Regina.

“Oooh look who’s joining the party! And for a few minutes there I thought you were going to play the innocent bystander.” Gold exclaims with far too much excitement in his voice. 

Gold looks over at Regina for just a beat but immediately focuses back on Emma.

“In a few hours you’ll both find out, but first Ms Swan and I need to have a little discussion, so if you don’t mind, I’m sure Mal can find some way to entertain whatever your name is.”

Mal smiles widely at this, she walks over to Regina and grabs the frame of the chair. Regina begins to protest but her cries are quickly muted by a piece of duct tape which is slapped over her mouth. Mal pulls back and drags the chair out into the hall leaving Gold and Emma alone in the room. 

Emma struggles and tries in vain to escape the chair, to save Regina, but they still don’t budge. Emma’s eyes are wide and fixed on the now closed door. 

“Don’t worry Ms Swan, Mal isn’t going to hurt your precious wife, not yet at least, she's going to be our insurance policy. Mal’s just going to ask her some questions. I’m also going to ask you several questions and I hope you answer them honestly.” Gold walks over to one of the armed men still in the room and is handed a vial of purple shimmering liquid.

Emma has never seen anything like the liquid, “What is that?” 

“Something you’re going to drink and then we will get down to business. This precious liquid is one of the few things I have left from my world, it will ensure you tell me the truth. We don’t have much time Emma and you lying to me will not be tolerated. Drink.” He holds the vial to her mouth but she refuses. 

He snaps his fingers and the armed men are instantly behind her holding her head back, one forces her mouth open and the other plugs her nose, she has no choice. She really hopes he’s telling the truth and she isn’t about to drink some poison, Regina would kill her if she died. She really hopes Regina is okay. 

She swallows the purple liquid and it burns as it slides down her throat. It hits her stomach and it feels like it explodes in the organ. She wants to vomit but as quickly as the feeling becomes overwhelming it recedes, and she feels back to normal. The men let go of her head and walk back to their posts by the door.

“I drank your kool-aid, now what? What is this all about? Why me?” Emma spitfires at him.

Gold laughs “I believe I’m the one asking the questions. Now, what do you know about your birth parents and where you come from?”

“Fuck off I’m not talking about my parents, the ones that decided to abandon me as a baby, they’re horrible people, no matter what fucking reason they must have thought they had at that time.” That’s what Emma plans to say, but what actually comes out of her mouth sounds a whole lot different. “I never knew them or where I came from, I was found on the side of the road as a baby in Maine with no signs of who left me, I've never found them.”

Emma closes her mouth, she definitely tried to say something else but it’s almost like her mouth had a mind of its own. It couldn’t actually be the sketchy liquid’s doing, could it? 

“Interesting. So you have no idea who they were and where you come from?” His curiosity piqued.

She automatically replies, “None”.

Gold’s mouth turns up just a bit as he asks, “What do you know about magic dearie?”

“Doesn’t exist.” Emma says her mind and her mouth concurring on this one.

“See that’s where you’re wrong. But no matter, you won’t be around to see it so it won’t make a difference to you. If only your parents knew how futile their sacrifice really was.” He begins to turn towards the door but Emma’s voice stops him.

“You knew them? What did they sacrifice and why? Please tell me.” Emma doesn’t really want to ask, but it seems she can’t control the word vomit even in the form of a question.

Gold spins around and laughs, actually laughs, in her face. “They sacrificed you, of course, and for what? Nothing. They gave their lives so that I could be cast out of the Enchanted Forest into the world without magic, but little did they know that you would also be cast out, and well here we are.”

“You're going to kill me aren't you?” Emma asks. 

Gold looks at Emma for a beat but it almost feels like that might be all the answer she needs. 

“I'm going to go check on our girls, see how they're getting along. It won't be long now.” He slips out of the room taking one of the guards with him leaving her alone with the other armed guard. 

Emma takes a moment, she thinks she can feel some of the self-control returning to her voice, apparently whatever the hell she drank wasn’t that long lasting. She looks around and weighs her options for escaping this room. 

“Don't suppose you could let me out of these cuffs?” She asks sarcastically but gets no reply from the man. She's just going to have to do this the hard way, well if the hard way includes the handcuff key she managed to lift off one of the guards when they were holding her head. 

Emma works very discreetly and ensures the unlocking process doesn't make any noise. 

“Excuse me sir, I have to ask how much is this guy paying you? Like 100k? 75k?” Emma taunts. 

The guard looks over and glares at her but doesn't answer. 

Emma pretends to be hurt by the silence, “Aww come on, I'm just trying to figure out why you'd risk your life for this guy, you know, to make sure he's paying you enough for this shit.” 

The mad simply replies with a grunt not even bothering to look at her. 

“Okay well if it were me, I'd make sure that if I was gonna give my life for something, it would be something important.”

With this, his head snaps up, but it's too late Emma surges off the chair and punches him in the face. He tries to fight back but he's too disoriented from the first hit, and after a few more blows his body collapses on the floor unconscious. 

Emma grabs the weapon from the man's limp hand, checks the magazine in the gun and finds the extra magazine on his belt. She also grabs the keys from the man's body before walking to the door. She opens the door slowly scanning for any signs of others. 

Outside of the room Emma can see an empty hallway, void of any furniture, art, but most importantly, people. The building looked like a small office building, steel and glass everywhere. Emma sees a door five feet from her and another door at the end of the hallway. Deciding to try the closest door she sneaks towards the frame. She presses her ear against the door hoping to hear something, but gets nothing. She turns the key and pushes the door open a crack.


	15. Chapter 15

Regina. There is no other thought for Emma Swan. She still isn't sure who these people are or what they actually want, but they don't seem especially sane and her wife is in danger. 

As she pushes the door open she spots another armed guard standing over her wife who is still bound in a chair. Regina looks scared but unharmed. The trail of tears running down her face rock Emma to her core, any fear or doubts that she had about escape firmly locked away by pure determination. 

Emma takes the butt of the gun and slams it into the guard’s head, he's down immediately. She grabs his weapon and keys and approaches Regina. A cry of relief sounds in the room, neither sure if it came from one or both of them. 

“Emma you're okay! I thought...” Regina’s voice trails off with unspoken fears. 

Emma quickly uncuffs Regina and takes her into her arms. 

“Are you okay my love?” She pulls back and quickly does another exam of the woman she loves, making double sure these nut jobs didn't hurt her physically. 

“Emma I'm fine, just get me out of here, and then you have a lot of explaining to do!” Regina kisses her but still gives her a stern look to which Emma can only reply with a sheepish look, then takes a deep breath. 

“It’s going to be okay. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.” She brings Regina’s hand to her mouth and kisses the back of Regina’s hand. “I love you.”

Regina’s eyes flicker from her hand to Emma’s eyes, taking in all of the emotions swirling around the green orbs. She smiles and maintains their eye contact, “I love you too Emma”. Their lips draw together with a magnetised pull.

The moment is gone far too quickly as they both remember where they are. Emma hands Regina the gun she looted from the guard, “You're a farm girl, you know how to shoot right?”

Regina cocks her brow, “Just because I grew up with horses does not mean I grew up on a farm and know how to shoot things, but I've played enough games with you and Henry that I'm sure I've got the basics down.”

“I fucking love you.” Emma smiles and grabs her hand leading them out of the room. 

They sneak along the hallway until they come to another door that looks like it should be the exit, and the sign above that's marked exit helps. Emma pushes the door open her eyes widening at the scene in front of them. They're inside of a massive airbase. There's multiple helicopters and private planes along with shipping containers and guards everywhere. Escaping undetected will not be easy. 

They duck behind some crates that were only a few feet away from the door, Emma needs to get a better look at the layout, to make an escape route in her mind. She turns to Regina and asks if she is ready for what they are about to attempt. Regina simply nods. 

The two don’t make it very far before the base begins to light up, seems their escape has been noticed. Bright white lights suddenly make the base brighter than the sun. They’re really screwed. Emma takes a moment to review their options, there are a few crates in between them and one of the helicopters, they can try and run for it, but they’ll probably get shot. They could try and go for the fence, but it’s much much too far. They really have one option, back the way they came and try to go around the building, hoping that side has better options.

Emma leads Regina by the hand back to the building and as they sneak along the side, all hell breaks loose on the base. There’s gunfire and screaming coming from across the tarmac. Emma squints to try and get a better look, there’s more people with guns, but they’re not the same guards, they’re soldiers. The soldiers are taking down the guards, it’s either a rescue mission or someone else trying to kill Gold, she’s hoping for the first option. Gold! Emma wonders where that slimy bastard is at the moment. He needs to be arrested, roughed up a little maybe, but definitely arrested. She grips Regina’s hand a little tighter.

“We need to find the guy that captured us, make sure he doesn’t escape.” Emma explains before they enter the building they previously escaped. They don’t find him. They search the building and only find one occupant, Mal. The blonde is sitting drinking champagne acting like she has no cares in the world when the door opens. She sees Emma enter the room and actually smiles.

“I knew you’d come back for me, couldn’t resist me.” She tries to flirt with Emma, yet again.

Before Emma has a chance to do anything Regina punches Mal in the jaw. Mal actually looks impressed while Emma might be a little turned on by the move. 

Emma asks Mal for Gold’s location several times but gets no answers. The woman simply sits rubbing her now sore jaw and sipping her drink. Regina is about to punch the woman again as Emma hears her name being yelled.

Mulan enters the room with her MK16 leading the way. Emma and Regina’s faces immediately show the relief they feel. Several other soldiers follow into the room and take custody of Mal. 

“Hey um Mulan, don’t get me wrong I’m super happy for the rescue, but uh, how did you find us?” Emma is a touch confused.

‘You really think I’d let anyone on my team not have a tracker. Especially my partner who is always doing stupid things. I knew one day your ass would get captured.” Mulan snarks. 

Emma rubs the back of her neck, “Well, uh thank you, really. Did you happen to find Gold, he’s behind this whole thing. Turns out he’s some crazy guy who thinks magic is real and that I have something to do with it.”

“We haven’t found him yet, but he must be here somewhere. Let the team find him, you both should get checked out by the medic.” Mulan says before she starts talking to someone on the radio.

Emma holds out her hand to Regina, who takes it. They quietly walk towards the large group of soldiers looking for the medic. After getting an all clear from the medics Emma waits for Regina, who is still getting examined, near the car that will take them home. Emma feels something poke into her side, she turns to look, it’s Gold sticking a gun into her side.

Gold quietly barks at Emma to move and pushes the gun into her side as he moves. They make their way away from the soldiers towards the trees lining the base. 

“This could have been so easy, all you had to do was shed a little blood. I wasn’t even sure I was going to kill you but now.” Gold says as they come to a clearing that has what looks like a makeshift altar in the middle. 

Gold hands Emma a pair of handcuffs, “Put these on, I won’t have you escaping again Saviour.” Emma does as she’s told.

One the cuffs are on Emma is instructed to move to the altar and place her hands on it. Emma hesitates for a moment before the gun is lifted to her head. Gold’s finger is on the trigger, it would only take a few pounds of pressure and Emma would be dead. Emma does as he asked. She places her cuffed hands onto a stone that has writing in a language she doesn’t recognise.

Gold takes a dagger from his belt, Emma can see something written on the dagger but cannot make out the word as it's soon on her skin making thin cuts on her hands. The pain makes her close her eyes for a second. She feels the air around her shift and crackle with electricity. She opens her eyes and looks down to the altar, the altar that is now glowing where her blood meets the stone. Her eyes flick back to Gold.

“I told you, magic.” He smiles, and Emma is genuinely scared she is about to die.


	16. Chapter 16

A loud pop echos through the trees. Then another, and another. Emma knows the sound, but can’t place the location. It’s only when Gold falls and she sees the blood beginning to seep into his clothes that the connection is made. Those were gunshots. 

Regina runs into the clearing still pointing the gun at Gold who is down on the ground. She runs to Emma and sees the blood, and the glowing stone. She stops in her tracks unsure if her mind is playing tricks as the glowing is getting stronger with each passing second. Emma picks her arms up off the altar, her cuffed hands still dripping blood.

She looks at her wife, her saviour and smiles. “I married a bad-ass.”

Regina rolls her eyes and closes the distance between them. “Emma you’re bleeding, and glowing? Why are you glowing, and what is that?” She points to the ground next to the altar, it seems to be swirling.

“I don’t know but it can’t be good. We need to get away from it.” Emma starts moving them away from the swirling ground. She looks over at Gold who is attempting to get up even with his multiple gunshot wounds. He gives up on standing and begins trying to crawl over to the swirl that is getting larger. Emma feels in her gut that him getting to the swirl would be a disaster and launches herself at the man. She’s still handcuffed and bleeding, so the struggle isn’t exactly a fair fight but she manages to roll them further away from the swirl. 

Gold continues to resist and keeps trying to get to the swirl, Regina lifts the gun she never put down and tries to aim, but cannot get a clear shot. She would never risk hitting Emma, so she lowers the weapon. She sees the glint of the dagger, it’s on the ground several feet from the pair who are still struggling and rolling around. She runs over and picks up the dagger. She can’t quite figure out how to get it to Emma, she needs them to hold still for just a second. It comes to her in the most roundabout way.

“EMMA SWAN!” She yells just like she would if it were a Friday night and Emma left her muddy shoes on the carpet again.

Emma stops moving and looks worried, it’s a pavlovian response from years of conditioning. It works and the two are still long enough for Regina to throw the dagger to Emma who catches it and plunges it into Gold’s heart. His eyes go black for a moment before they go back to their normal colour, they widen and stop. Just stop. Everything stops, in that moment there is no noise, no movement, no breaths. He is dead. 

The swirling hasn’t stopped however, it’s only gotten bigger. There is now a visible hole in the ground. It almost looks like a wormhole from one of those 90’s sci-fi shows Emma loves to watch. The wind has picked up and it looks like leaves and loose branches are starting to get sucked into the hole. Emma tries to sit up and take her hand off the dagger, but she can’t, her hand is stuck to the dagger.

Emma tries again while Regina runs to her side to help her. No matter how hard she tries the dagger won’t move, and of course matters only get worse when some kind of black goo starts escaping from Gold’s body. “Regina get back! It must be some kind of chemical weapon!” 

Regina looks down at the black goo with fear, she needs to help get Emma out fast. She places her hands over Emma’s and they try again to pull the dagger from the body, and again it doesn’t budge. The creaking of a tree falling into the hole alarms them both and alerts them to how close the hole is coming to their position. 

“Regina go! You have to get out of here, that hole is going to suck us in if this shit doesn’t kill us first. You have to go!” Emma pleads.

Regina cups her face, “I am not leaving you. You’re an idiot if you think I would leave you. Keep pulling, it must come out!”

One more failed attempt and they both look at each other with tears in their eyes. This is it, the hole is only a few feet away and Emma is still stuck to a dead guy. The black goo has started to cover Emma’s hands.

“Emma I am not leaving you here to die, I love you.” Regina sobs.

“I love you so much. You have to go though, I know you don’t want to, but you have to, for Henry. He needs at least one of his mothers.” Tears are running down Emma’s face, she’s scared but she needs to be strong for both of them. “Tell him I love him, and tell him to not forget me.”

“Emma no! Stop, you can’t!” Regina cries but she knows there is no chance, she can’t carry Emma and Gold’s body away from the growing hole. She knows this is her final few moments with her wife. She lays down on the ground so she can reach Emma’s lips. It’s an awkward position, but they stretch to make the connection. It’s a kiss of sadness, tears, snot, and most importantly love.

A wave of rainbow light shoots from their connected lips, immediately the hole snaps shut, the black goo disappears, and the dagger dislodges from Gold’s body. Both women open their eyes and look around. Emma drops the dagger and rolls over, grabbing and rolling Regina with her so that Regina is on top of her. She moves her still handcuffed and slightly bleeding hands above her head and wraps them behind Regina’s head. She pulls Regina’s mouth back to hers.

The pair are still making out when Mulan and Merlin find them moments later. They aren’t sure they should break the two apart, but eventually they do. Emma gets her hands bandaged while Regina doesn’t leave her side. Emma gazes at her with adoration the entire time. 

Mulan walks over to the pair, “Sorry to interrupt again, but we need to get back to headquarters for a debrief. Boss is going to need some answers for this one.”

Emma doesn’t even look at her partner, “No.”

“Did you just say no?” Mulan asks.

“I’m going to take my wife home, I’m going to show her exactly how much I love her, and then I’m going to cuddle with her and sleep for like a day. Then, I’ll go in for debrief.” Emma responds, watching Regina’s thumbs run over the bandages on her hands.

“Emma, we have to…” Mulan starts but stops when Emma stands up and kisses Regina soundly before walking over to and getting into an unmarked SUV.

Mulan throws her hands up in frustration but smiles, they still need to figure out what exactly happened with Gold and what the hole in the ground was, but she’s happy for her partner and her wife. They deserve a little happiness.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does smut need a warning? Well if it does, here it is.

Emma is overjoyed that all of her cuts are to her palms and not to her fingers, especially when said fingers are currently bringing her wife to yet another orgasm. She’s not sure what number this is, she lost count after the fourth one. Regina starts to come down from her orgasm and pushes Emma’s fingers from her clit, it’s overstimulated and she needs a few minutes to catch her breath. She feels Emma pull her closer and she cuddles into Emma’s side, her head resting on Emma’s sternum. The steady thump of Emma’s heart relaxing her into a sleepy state. 

Regina’s mind is still trying to comprehend the conversation they had before reconnecting physically. Emma confessing to her true job, and how she hated lying to Regina but how she hoped Regina would be proud of her accomplishments. Regina expressing her unhappiness at being lied to, but understanding for the most part, then saying having Jane Bond for a wife was sexy, but having Emma Swan-Mills for a wife is even better. Emma crying a little when she hears that, and Emma beginning to, well, worship, that’s really the only word Regina can think to call it, her body and soul.

Emma pulls Regina from her thoughts when she starts, “I love you so much Regina, I’m sorry I’ve been such a shitty wife and mother. I haven’t been here for you guys at all. You and Henry don’t deserve it, you deserve so much better and I’m going to start showing you both how much I love you guys.” 

Regina looks up at her, “Emma, you haven’t been shitty.”

Emma interrupts, “I have, don’t try to sugarcoat it, it’s ok, I was trying to do everything before, but I ended up putting work before you and that stops now. You’re always going to come first from now on, just like tonight.”

“Did you really just make a sex joke right now?” Regina rolls her eyes, but laughs and squeezes Emma tighter. They both realise just what they could have lost today, and that they’re getting a second chance.

“You never did explain why you were at a hotel with an escort.” Regina asks and Emma swallows, this is going to be a hard one. She explains the whole thing, not even skipping over the part where she kind of got a little stalkery and put trackers in her wife’s possessions, she was never lying to her wife again. 

“I do have to say, that dancing was fucking hot though, do you know how much I wanted to fuck you when you were laying on that bed, that’s why I kissed you. I didn’t mean to, but I was so turned on, maybe one day you could do another show for me?” Emma tries, she even puts on her best puppy dog eyes.

Regina is still absorbing the story, wondering what she would have done had the roles been reversed and she suspected Emma was cheating. She thinks about the request, and how much she enjoyed herself that night during her dance even though she should have been terrified. “We’ll see. Maybe you should dance for me some time.” 

Emma laughs, “Deal.” Emma shifts and starts to get out of bed.

“Where are you going?” Regina asks her, immediately missing her warmth.

“You want a dance? You get a dance!” Emma grabs her phone and starts scrolling through Spotify before finding the perfect song. She’s already naked but that’s not going to stop her from giving Regina a sexy dance.

She begins thrusting her hips and trying to twerk along with the song, her arms flailing in random movements, Regina starts laughing. She’s always known her wife was a terrible dancer, but in the moment after the random movements begin, they seem to change. A sudden sense of purpose now fills the motions, Emma can see the intrigue gleaming in Regina’s eyes. 

Regina sits up, scoots closer to the edge of the bed, Emma moves over to her lap with her back to Regina. She starts rubbing her ass on Regina’s legs, leaving tiny trails of wetness behind with every pass. Regina places her hands on Emma’s hips, Emma swats them away “No touching!”

Regina chuckles and smacks Emma’s ass before putting her hands back down at her side. Emma looks back at her in mock offence for a second before resuming her lap dance. The trail of wetness becoming more and more evident. Regina’s eyes can’t seem to find a focus rapidly switching between Emma’s face, breasts, and ass. The stimulation of her senses overwhelming her brain and only seems to grow with each passing second.

The song ends and Emma suddenly turns around and straddles Regina’s hips, grinding into Regina. She moans at the friction it provides and the pressure on her clit. Knowing it won't provide the same friction for Regina, she moves back a little and swings her leg in between Regina’s so that she can use her leg to grind into Regina’s clit. A moan escapes and then there's hands moving up and clutching at Emma’s back at the stimulation. Emma tries to grind her pussy into Regina’s leg and push her leg into Regina’s pussy along with the beat of the music but the pleasure proves to be an obstacle for her rhythm. The premise of the dance is soon abandoned as both women rub into each other, the emotions playing thick through their bodies and eye contact, Regina quickly approaching orgasm thanks to her still sensitive clit.

Seeing Regina’s eyes never leave hers as she peaks in orgasm and hearing her voice cry out Emma’s name is enough to send Emma over the cliff and into her own orgasm. She cums with a loud moan and then kind of slumps over Regina, knocking her back flat on the bed. Emma laughs and looks at Regina who starts laughing as well. “God I love dancing.”


	18. Chapter 18

Emma reports to work the next day and does her debrief, Mulan and Merlin tell her how Mal is still sticking to the story about magic, but has gone even further on the path. She’s now claiming Gold was some super-villain called the Dark One who could be controlled with the dagger that ultimately claimed his life. She tells them how she and Spencer were helping Gold so that they could get back to the Enchanted Forest. She also claims that Emma was the magical child of Prince Charming and Snow White, and was sacrificed to save their land. She gets shipped off to a locked psychiatric ward.

Emma has a long talk with Mulan about the ordeal and her future. Mulan thinks that maybe it’s time for Emma to break up the band, and let Merlin take over the field operations, Emma can’t help but agree. Emma tells her she’s going to take some time off and then Emma invites Mulan over for dinner, as a friend, instead of just as a co-worker, and the woman smiles brighter than Emma has ever seen before.

\-----------------

Emma digs through the fridge trying to find mustard for the sandwiches she’s making for her and Regina. She finally finds it and begins spreading it on the slices of bread, humming a happy tune as she works the knife. Out of the corner of her eye she notices she's being watched by her son, she turns to look at him.

“You want one?” She asks.

He pauses for a moment where several emotions pass on his face before he tells her he does. He can tell she’s happy, happier than he’s seen in a long while, she’s actually humming. His eyes bulge when his other mother walks into the kitchen and wraps her arms around Emma from behind, Emma stops making the food and sets the knife down on the counter.

“Henry! When did you get home?” Regina asks with enough of a hint of surprise in her voice that Henry actually notices, and starts getting a little weirded out by what he thinks his parents might have been doing before he got home.

“You’re both being weird. What’s going on?” he asks.

His mothers turn around to look at him but don’t stop touching, Emma’s hand is planted on Regina’s hip and her arm is wrapped around Emma’s middle. Emma takes a breath and starts.

“Well, my eyes have recently been opened to how this family was drifting apart because of me, and thankfully you’re both still here and I’ve been given an amazing chance to fix it, make this family what we all want and need it to be, together. I promise, no more late nights at work, I’m going to help you with homework any time you need it, we’re going to play all the video games you’ve got in that backlog. It’s just, well, I’m going to be here for you, for both of you.” Emma looks down at the floor, she doesn’t want to look up, doesn’t want to see the rejection on her son’s face she fears she might see. Her eyes flicker up when Regina squeezes her just a little.

Henry is walking over to his mothers with his eyes clearly teary, he wraps his arms around both of them. He’s never stopped being their little boy, even if he’s 13 years old. The family stand there having a hug that feels so far overdue that it lasts longer than any of them expect. When they break apart Emma suggests having family dinner with pizza and movie night. She’s thinking of Regina’s possible emotional stress when she suggests a good old Mario Kart competition after the movie instead of suggesting a Call of Duty rematch. Both mother and son agree that Emma is going down in flames. She laughs them off as she tells them to go ahead and pick out a movie as she’s going to call in the pizza order and clean up her mess in the kitchen, aka she’s going to eat the half-made sandwich and throw the dishes in the washer.

Henry follows Emma into the kitchen, “Ma, can I talk to you about something? I’ve been trying to talk to you about this for awhile, and you seem like you might be finally ready to listen.”

Emma feels like someone slapped her across the face at the words, but she knows his words are true and aren’t meant to hurt. “I told you, I’ve got all the time in the world for you. What’s up?”

He takes a deep breath, looks up at the ceiling and then back at Emma, his hands rubbing against the sides of his jeans. “I...I..” he sighs clearly struggling to get the words out. Emma’s heart breaks a little more at her son’s clear pain at whatever he’s about to tell her. He takes another deep breath and releases it slowly, taking the moment to gather the confidence.

“Ma, I’m gay.” he says so quietly Emma almost doesn’t hear it. Emma immediately engulfs him into a hug.

“I love you so much Henry, thank you so much for telling me, for being brave. I’m so sorry that you felt that you couldn’t tell me before, I always want you to know that you really can tell me anything, okay?” Emma embraces her son but pulls away slightly when a lingering question pops into her mind.

“I really have to ask because this has been bothering me for days, what in the world did you steal Mulan’s money for?” She asks.

He looks down at the ground and mumbles an answer that Emma strains to hear, “the karate lessons mom wouldn’t say yes to.”

Emma laughs a little because while she does not condone stealing, she knows she can teach Henry far more than anyone else they might pay. “We're going to have a nice talk with your mom about that, later.” She pulls him back into a hug, this is a time for reconnection not punishment.

The two hug until they hear Regina enter the kitchen, stopping in the doorway to observe the moment. They pull apart and Henry walks back into the living room to pick out a movie. Emma quickly places the dishes into the washer and contemplates eating the half-made sandwich before looking back at Regina, with a sheepish look she tosses the mustard covered bread into the trash.

Emma suddenly looks panicked and her eyes widen as she looks at Regina, “Wait, does this mean Hansel…” She can’t even finish her thought, her son is too young. No, no, no.

Regina laughs and grabs Emma’s hand and pats it, “Henry ensures me that they’re just friends and that he’s far too dedicated to his schoolwork for a boyfriend.”

“Oh thank god! I’m too young and hot to be a grandma!” Emma exclaims.

Regina just shakes her head and leads them to the living room. They settle in and cuddle next to their son on the couch as the film starts. Emma can’t help but smile, she really loves and has missed her family, sure Belle is going to be mad that she’s going to demand to be reassigned to a desk, but if it keeps her coming home to her family every night it’s going to be worth it, they’re worth it.

**The End.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I grew up loving the True Lies film and it seemed like such a natural SQ AU. Hopefully, you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and if you've seen the film, I hope you liked the twist I gave the story. Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Writers and artists spent months creating the fics and art you enjoy - it would mean the world to them if you commented to tell them what you liked! The SQSupernova team is also sponsoring a contest for commenters, and you can find out more [here](http://sqsupernova.tumblr.com/post/164792441694/announcing-the-sqsn-comments-contest-a-reward-for).


End file.
